The present disclosure relates to computing systems, and methods of interfacing with computing systems.
Virtualized computing environments, also referred to as cloud computing systems or composite information technology systems, are used to provide computing resources to end users. In a cloud computing environment, the physical hardware configuration is hidden from the end user. Cloud computing systems may include servers, network storage devices, routers, gateways, communication links, software (e.g., applications, operating systems, web services, etc.), and other devices. However, because the physical hardware and software platforms on which cloud computing system is implemented are hidden within a “cloud,” they can be managed, upgraded, replaced or otherwise changed by a system administrator without the customer being aware of or affected by the change.
In a typical cloud computing environment, applications may be executed on virtual machines or appliances, which are guest operating systems installed within a host system and an optional preset configuration and structure (e.g., combination of operating system and web server). A virtual machine (VM) can be a software implementation of a machine or computer that executes programs as would a physical machine, in a manner that is transparent to a user. Virtual machines are typically implemented with software emulation and/or hardware virtualization. A single hardware and/or software platform may host a number of virtual machines, each of which may have access to some portion of the platform's resources, such as processing resources, storage resources, etc.
In any computing environment, interacting with already-existing code bases (for example, to integrate new functionality) can present challenges. In particular, it may be advantageous to integrate new code with existing code, without rewriting the existing code. In one such integration technique, an interface of an existing software component or application, such as a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) interface, may be digested to discover and/or expose methods and application program interfaces (APIs) of the existing component. A developer may then write a connector (for example, in Java) to interact with the existing component.